Demonstrators take to the streets of Maghull to protest against

Campaigners took to the streets of Maghull on Saturday to march against the Lib Dem-Tory cuts in Sefton.

More than 100 protesters took part in the March which made its way from Central Square to Maghull Town Hall.

The event was organised by Sefton Labour Party ahead of this Thursday's council budget meeting which could see the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats axe a range of services, including seven youth centre, 19 children’s centres and services to hundreds of elderly and disabled adults, and in the process making hundreds of public sector workers redundant.

Protesters joining the march included council staff as well as service users. Young demonstrators also joined the protest to voice their anger at the planned closures.

March organiser Cllr Peter Dowd said: "I'd like to thank everybody who joined the Labour Group on this march. I was particularly pleased to see lots of young people who came out to show their opposition to the closures of youth centres and children's centres in the borough.

"Children, the young and the most vulnerable are some of the most affected by these cuts. But by turning up today we have all sent the Liberal Democrats and their Conservative friends a message that we will not sit back and allow them to make these cuts unchallenged.

"That is why the Labour Group is opposing the cuts and why we will continue to lead the opposition against them."

Unison's Glen Williams told marchers that the cuts were an attack on ordinary people of Sefton.

He said: "I never thought I'd see the day when we see a march of this size taking place in Maghull. But the size of the march just goes to show that people here see that these cuts are an attack on every part of our community.

"If you are young in Sefton you are a victim of these cuts. If you have a disability and you live in Sefton you are a victim of these cuts. And that is why I want to congratulate all the young people who joined us on the march today."

Sefton Central Labour MP Bill Esterson said the march sent a clear message not just to the Lib Dems and Tories on Sefton Council, but also directly to David Cameron and Nick Clegg.

Bill said: "I know through first hand experience how valuable council services are particularly children's centres and youth centres both of which make a massive impact in ordinary families' lives.

"By joining the march today each and every person sent a message back to Cameron, Clegg and Osbourne that these cuts are unfair. It is not their families that will lose out because of this. They are all multi-millionaires.

"Over the next few years, we will see thousands of people right here in Sefton losing their jobs because of these cuts. And every single one of us will suffer when these cuts begin to bite. But it is the most vulnerable that will be hurt the most.

"This is a Tory-Lib Dem government with an ideological agenda, an agenda which is being mirrored by the Tories and Lib Dems on Sefton Council.

"Here in Sefton we have to fight back - and that fight back started today."